The American army said on Sunday that it had destroyed two vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean, resulting in five deaths and one survivor, as the Trump administration continues its campaign against presumed traffickers in Latin America while preparing for a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The Saturday attacks bring the number of people killed in strikes against boats led by the American army to at least 168 since the Trump administration began targeting what it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.
As with most statements from the army regarding the dozens of strikes carried out in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, the United States Southern Command stated that they had targeted presumed drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The army did not provide any evidence that the ship was carrying drugs. Videos posted on X showed small boats moving on the water before each being engulfed by a blinding explosion.
The United States Southern Command stated on X that they had requested the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the search and rescue system for the survivor. The Coast Guard confirmed that they were coordinating the search and indicated that information would be provided as soon as it became available.
President Donald Trump declared that the United States was in an “armed conflict” with the cartels of Latin America and justified these attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs to the United States and the deadly overdoses that take American lives. However, his administration provided little evidence to support its claims that it had killed “narcoterrorists.”
Critics have questioned the overall legality of the strikes against boats as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl responsible for many deadly overdoses is generally trafficked to the United States overland from Mexico, where it is produced from chemicals imported from China and India.
The strikes against boats continued in Latin America even as the American army focused on operations in the Middle East, where the United States has been at war with Iran for several weeks.
Donald Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. Navy would establish a blockade of ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, after ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran in Pakistan ended in failure.
He aims to weaken Iran’s main leverage in this conflict after demanding the reopening of this crucial maritime passage through which normally 20% of the world’s oil flows. The U.S. Central Command specified that the blockade would target Iranian ports.
By Ben Finley, The Associated Press
